Re: OT: What? the clean-shaven outnumber the bearded?"YerUgly Mug," etc.

>  > > I think this is inaccurate.  Natural selection doesn't operate on
>  > > the level of the species, or the individual, but the gene.
>  >
>  > This is to say the least controversial: Darwin wrote about
>  > individual selection, and even group selection is far from dead,
>  > though the claims made for extreme forms of it have been
>  > discredited.
>  >
>Well, it's something of an oversimplification, I'll admit.  But I
>think it's a better description of the mechanism than "[the survival
>of the species as a whole] is what's important, not the survival of
>some selected line of individuals".  On the other hand, I can't claim
>expert knowledge in the field.
In my own personal experiences in life, I 've found that, once personal
biases and prejudices and unproven assumptions are set aside, the "truth" of
a process often lies somewhere between formerly adopted polarized opposites.

While the theory of evolution is one of my core beliefs, to completely
dismiss a variation, on the level at which that theory is applied, merely
because I prefer not to consider it diminishes the potential of realization
of fact/truth in my life. I do, of course, operate on assumtions and beliefs
within my own life, but I do attempt to realize that I have elected to hold
those beliefs and assumptions.

Whereas Darwin's insight and vision served to be very enlightening, I doubt
that he would have considered his observations and writings as definitive.

>  > What seems most likely to me is that sexual behavior exists on a
>  > continuum (it's no accident that Alfred Kinsey was a wasp
>  > taxonomist) and that all of it is essentially epiphenomenal.
>
>I'm inclined to agree.  Certainly it's a complex system which doesn't
>lend itself to simple, definitive explanations.
Indeed, my own experiences led me to the same assumption years ago.

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